Guided Tour (album) explained

Guided Tour
Type:Studio
Artist:Gary Burton
Cover:Guided Tour - cover.jpg
Border:yes
Studio:MSR Studios, New York.
Genre:Jazz
Label:Mack Avenue (MAC1074)
Producer:Gary Burton
Chronology:Gary Burton
Prev Title:Time Thread
Prev Year:2013

Guided Tour is a studio album by American jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton. The album was recorded in New York City together with guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez, and released on via Mack Avenue Records.[1] The record consists of 10 tracks, paying tribute to the legacies of Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Jim Hall, and Astor Piazzolla.[2] Eight of the compositions were by band-members. This was Burton’s final studio album before his 2017 retirement.

Reception

Charley Raiff of Elmore Magazine wrote "Gary Burton, the pioneer of the four-mallet vibraphone technique, again exhibits his unfaltering vision of what playing that instrument should be in his newest release... Guided Tour serves as a magnificent follow-up to 2011’s Common Ground, and the pairing of Burton’s vibraphone and Lage’s guitar works better than ever. Despite his age, Burton seems to be just warming up."[3]

Thom Jurek of Allmusic stated "On its sophomore offering for Mack Avenue Records, the New Gary Burton Quartet reveals the musical maturity that naturally occurs when a disparate but extremely gifted group of players locks in as a band... While Guided Tour proves that this band has hit its stride and fires exquisitely on all cylinders, it also reveals, that at age 70, Burton's fire for pushing his creative edge as a bandleader, and as a soloist, still burns brightly."

Dave Gelly of The Guardian noted "It's one thing to be a virtuoso player, which he is, but quite another to create a whole sonic world with just four musicians. That's what Burton has been doing consistently for more than 45 years and, as this second album by his newest quartet proves, the sounds just go on getting richer. Every one of these 10 pieces is filled with tonal light and shade, harmonic sparkle and rhythmic subtlety."

Personnel

Band

Production

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The New Gary Burton Quartet – Guided Tour. Discogs. discogs.com. 31 January 2018.
  2. Web site: Joyce. Mike. New Gary Burton Quartet album review, ‘Guided Tour’. The Washington Post. washingtonpost.com. 1 February 2018. September 5, 2013.
  3. Web site: Raiff. Charley. The New Gary Burton Quartet – Guided Tour (Mack Avenue). Elmore Magazine. elmoremagazine.com. 31 January 2018. August 27, 2013.